by Mark Found

I feel sorry for the youngsters these days. I know that sounds pompous and that they have loads of things that I never had when I was young, like mobile phones and instant cures for acne - but as far as railways are concerned I feel as though they may have missed out. Blimey, come to think about it I've pretty well missed out too - especially when it comes to freight.

I can only just remember, if I try really really hard, the, what I like to call, proper days of freight. Class 71s whining along the East Kent coast pulling their long trains of unfitted wagons full of goodness knows what from Ramsgate to Hither Green. The rusting overhead wires at Faversham. It may not even be a real memory, sometimes I think I might have fooled my memory by endlessly staring at black and white photographs by Colin J Marsden and the like and desperately wishing I'd been there.

I certainly can't remember the days when freight trains were really really good - the days of grubby steam trains and local pick-ups. The hustle and bustle of country stations as wagons are hitched up and dropped off whilst the little 0-6-0 busies itself in the yard.

Nowadays, freight, well, it's just not the same, is it? And a bloody good job too, I hear from the back.

Well, you could be right. Time moves on, and maybe the teenager of the future will be sick with envy when he sees trainspotting at Freightliners' inter modal depot in Southampton (although I found it very hard not to call it a container port!).

Freightliner. Well, I certainly can't fault them for their hospitality - if I had to send a container by rail I'd certainly make sure it was with them and their highly distinctive green and yellow livery.

From the moment Richard, the cameraman, and I arrived we were made to feel welcome by all of the Freightliner staff. There was a genuine feeling that this was a company who's staff took a pride in working for it, from Neil, managing director, to Peter, driver.

Nothing was too much trouble. "Any chance of getting a shot from that crane over there?" the next minute we're up it. "No chance of a cab ride is there?" I can tick that one off now.

Freight is and should be a vital part the railways. One train can carry the equivalent of many many truckloads - and we know what a state the roads are in. It breaks my heart to think that at one time all the infrastructure was there - most towns had stations, and many of the stations had yards. We're paying the price now with jam-packed motorways, but at least Freightliner is showing what can be done.

I'm not a hard news reporter but it's nice to find a company that's reporting growths in traffic, that's having to put in orders for new trains and wagons and that has a sense of pride in itself. Maybe there's a future in this rail freight business after all!

By the way, anybody spot the mistake in the piece on tele?

Many thanks to Alison Brawn, Vicky Askew, Neil Mclean and all the team at Freightliner.

Trainspotting.links (will open in a new window)

www.freightliner.co.uk
Their own website, and very good it is too. This will give you the real nitty gritty of the company and some good facts and figures too.

Books

The two Aerofilms books "Britain's Railways From The Air - Then and Now" and "From The Air - Britain's Railways The and Now" are both excellent and show, dramatically, the decline of the railways, and, more importantly for this page, the loss of freight facilities in towns and cities.